In 2014, adding value to your brand is key. Building strong market positions is about building companies with a strong personality and corporate soul, a strong story to tell and defend. Music can help you to tell that story.

Music is a very interesting marketing tool because it doesn’t need to manifest any special affinity with a particular product or service in order to play an effective and useful function.

Now is time for your brand to differentiate, and create a product or service offering which competes on factors other than the 4 traditional Marketing Mix P’s (price, product, place and promotion). Music can help you to promote that “it” factor that your brand has to use.

Maybe you are reading this, and you are the member of a music group. Consider that linking yourself to a brand doesn’t have to be a bad issue if you keep your creative independence. It is a Win-Win situation. Both of you are helping each other to promote your products. Brand, band and customers/fans are all communicators who facilitate conversation and engagement, boosting sales (of products, services, music,  venues and so) and enjoying together.

For both the band and the brand, it increases the relationships between companies and customers – now, with Social Media, at a one-to-one level – and provides them with information that is useful and pertinent for their interests and values. The art of communication strategy is becoming ever more personal with the technological revolution. The artists and the brands have to be able to share a common fan base to partner successfully.

Some examples of bands that benefited from massive exposure in a corporate commercial:

SONY AND JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ

Swedish-born José González, whose cover song of “Heartbeats” by The Knife appeared in the beautiful Sony Bravia commercial.   The evocative ad campaign saw 250,000 bouncy balls shot down the steep streets of San Francisco. José González is now a popular artist who recently did several songs for the soundtrack to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty film

VODAFONE AND DANDY WARHOLS

In 2001, a Vodafone advertisement rose “The Dandy Warhols” to new levels of fame after their song “Bohemian Like You” enjoyed extensive exposure.

PEUGEOT AND EDWARD SHARPE&THE MAGNETIC ZEROS

The Peugeot 2008 commercial featuring ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, from the album ‘Up From Below’.

SMEs can also use music for marketing. For example, these two very interesting examples from Alicante, the province where I live.

ENERGY SISTEM AND PORTA

The medium-size company Energy Sistem partnered with artists  MC Porta and the band Auryn to promote their products (consumer electronics).  The target of the company is young music lovers, and so the target of the bands is. This is a clear win-win example, in which both the band and the brand benefit from partnership.

CHIE MIHARA AND LUTHEA SALOM

This conversation between shoe designer Chie Mihara and singer Luthea Salom allows us to discover Chie Mihara’s new collection and Luthea’s song “Crazy”. Both the singer and designer share the same values and style.

Conclusion: If you work for a corporation, look around you. You can find a great artist or band that can help you with your marketing campaigns and increase the revenues of the brand. Partner with them. Grow together. Achieve success together.